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Recognizing the Urgency of a Ceasefire

Recognizing the Urgency of a Ceasefire

George Bush is vacationing in Texas, and members of Congress â€“ with the notable exception of Nebraska Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, Ohio Democratic Representatives Dennis Kucinich and Marcy Kaptur and a handful of others â€“ have taken the president's exit from Washington as an excuse to put any concerns regarding the crisis in the Middle East on hold until the dog days of August have passed.

Not so in Britain, where members of Parliament take more seriously there responsibility to consider what is being done in their name but without their informed consent.

With British Prime Minister Tony Blair following President Bush's "look-the-other-way" lead regarding Israel's continued bombing of civilian targets in Lebanon â€“ with the death toll now hovering around 1,000, and the dislocation of more than 900,000 men, women and children â€“ in a conflict that has also seen dozens of Israeli civilians killed by Hezbollah rocket attacks, leading members of Blair's own Labour party have joined with opposition legislators to demand the recall of Parliament to consider steps Britain could take to stop the killing.

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George Bush is vacationing in Texas, and members of Congress – with the notable exception of Nebraska Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, Ohio Democratic Representatives Dennis Kucinich and Marcy Kaptur and a handful of others – have taken the president’s exit from Washington as an excuse to put any concerns regarding the crisis in the Middle East on hold until the dog days of August have passed.

Not so in Britain, where members of Parliament take more seriously there responsibility to consider what is being done in their name but without their informed consent.

With British Prime Minister Tony Blair following President Bush’s “look-the-other-way” lead regarding Israel’s continued bombing of civilian targets in Lebanon – with the death toll now hovering around 1,000, and the dislocation of more than 900,000 men, women and children – in a conflict that has also seen dozens of Israeli civilians killed by Hezbollah rocket attacks, leading members of Blair’s own Labour party have joined with opposition legislators to demand the recall of Parliament to consider steps Britain could take to stop the killing.

Instead of putting their consciences on hold until the end of August – presumably waiting for the agonizingly slow United Nation deliberations to come up with a plan that will not be implemented until a lot more Lebanese and Israelis die — more than 150 members of Parliament from across the political spectrum in Britain have signed a call to convene the House of Commons in an effort to promote an immediate ceasefire.

Writing to Commons leader Jack Straw – who last month criticized Blair for failing to condemn Israel’s “disproportionate” use of force against civilian targets in Lebanon – the parliamentarians asked that Parliament be brought into session, and into the debate.

“There is huge concern in the country about the current Middle East crisis, and fear that the [Blair government’s] early failure to insist that Israel and Hezbollah observe an immediate ceasefire has cost many innocent lives and may continue to do so,” they members of Parliament wrote. “In addition, the use by US supply aircraft to refuel at Prestwick airport when transporting bombs and military hardware to be used by the Israel Defence Force in air-raids on densely populated civilian areas has given the impression that the UK has assumed a tacitly active and less than impartial role in the conflict.”

Noting polls showing that 70 percent of Brits favor an immediate ceasefire, the letter argued that, “Given the massive concern in the country about these matters, we believe that it is right to allow the Commons to meet in order that the government’s strategy can be fully discussed. Parliament is seriously hamstrung at times of crisis by the fact that only the government can recall parliament. It should be noted that 202 cross-party members of parliament have signed a petition calling for an immediate ceasefire.

“In light of the seriousness of current events and the overwhelming parliamentary and public interest in them, I urge you to give the utmost consideration to this letter. It is absolutely vital to the quality of democracy in the United Kingdom that elected representatives voice the concerns of our constituents at such a crucial time.”

Here’s a thought: If it is vital to democracy in the United Kingdom that legislators address the Middle East crisis, might it not also be vital to democracy in the United States that our Congress do the same thing? Or would that interrupt all the official vacationing?